I'm afraid I don't get the hype for the Amazing Digital Circus
Ok before you kill me I genuinely want this to be an open and polite discussion. I want to love tadc and hop on the hype train but I have some issues with the way the story is unraveling and with only one episode missing I don't know if I'll be able to love the show as much as I want to. I'm curious to hear other people's opinions on it since I hear very few criticism (CONSTRUCTIVE criticism) of the show in general. Also a lot of this could be personal opinions and taste so it's not that deep, maybe the show just isn't for me and that's ok, I just like to talk about things.
This last episode solidified for me how chaotic everything feels, the story goes one way a moment, then another way, and as much as they frame it to be an intentional rollercoaster of emotions the end result for me is kinda messy. The show is very smart in terms of visual gags, but when it comes to the overall plot I genuinely can't tell what's the point of everything. This last episode is the perfect example of what i mean by this, because it kinda seems like a direct copy of the last one, only now the reveals are true, Kingler is the "Able" of the situation and the plot points are exactly the same basically. It feels like a uno reverse card that kinda defeats the point of the last episode, which had much more potential imo because really, to me the horror side of the show was not so much about the visual gore but the idea that nothing is real in the circus, that caine doesn't understand human emotions as much as he wants to and that the characters are completely useless and helpless. The fact that they made such a big deal out of the "exit" from the Pilot, only to then discard the idea that there is an exit in the first place was such a power move for me, it looked like a turning point towards a bigger story, finally, but then...this episode feels very like nope nevermind, let's put a bucket on Kingler's head and have everything revealed like that. It feels lazy, it feels like there was no point in the last episode and in the clues that were left behind throughout the show in general. Are you really telling me you could have used a bucket and your imagination this whole time?! Also the characters accepting Jax's actions so easily and without asking any questions was so disappointing, it would have been the perfect occasion to have more conflict, to discuss things further but instead they fast forward 100 steps and go to the accepting phase right away and don't say anything to Jax like...huh? Don't you wanna know why he did what he did, especially since you are saying that you should be friends and that you want him in your future??
Because of this constant changing of major plot points and themes, a lot of the show feels like filler to me, it doesn't feel like I'm following anything. I could get behind a lot of my issues about the plot if I had grown fond of the characters but the reality is that, as much as it sucks to say, I don't care enough about any of them because I don't feel like I know them. Everything feels very surface level, and it's not even because we don't know much about their backstory but just because they feel very flat in general and their personality doesn't come across as much as I would like, in the dialogues for example. Jax is the asshole one, Ragatha is the kind one...like I don't feel like I know much more than this. Yes, it's clear that they have deeper reasonings behind their behaviour but again, feels very surface level. It's kinda ironic how the episode that has most successful general character work imo is episode 5, the self proclaimed filler one, because in that ep we actually take the time to have some proper dialogue between characters that is not just a funny gag.
Caine is the character I was most interested in: it seemed like as much as he is the "villan" of the story, he didn't want to be, because he doesn't know the difference between good and evil in the first place, he is just an ai. His reaction to the characters getting angry at the adventure in episode 7 was perfect for me, he was more confused than anything. But now in this latest episode he loses it and again it kinda goes against the type of character that they seemed to be building up. I would have liked it more if he was more hurt than angry, but he is portrayed with this god complex that feels very uncalled for his character's drive.
What I love most about the show at the end of the day has come from fanart and headcanons. People in the fandom are so creative and they come up with stuff that, personally, I like more than the show itself.
Conclusion: idk, like the fact that I'm interested enough to write a post is honestly telling, like I watch the show and I enjoy it, but I don't love it as much as I want to.
First of all: its completely valid to not like a piece of media as much as you thought you would. Its actually pretty normal, especially if your first touchstone was the fandom, which is arguably different to the story.
I would still like to give you a different perspective on how "useless" the bait and switch was. I can totally see why it would feel that way, but it didnt at all to me!
E7 to me was Caines attempt at pleasing them. It gave us two things: Caine does not understand why people would want to leave and Caine is hard programmed to please them without understanding what that means. It also revealed the desperation of the characters and how much they all wanted (or in case of Jax: didnt want) to leave. Essentially, it made them face a new reality, dig into their last hope and allowed them to fantasize about leaving.
The end of that episode is like Act 4 of a Classic greek story structure: Before you can win, you have to fucking plummet to the ground.
My opinion (and this is where we probably differ) is that E8 would have *never* worked without E7. They needed to accept that escape was not an option and instead pivot to trying to make their lives livable. It was the first step towards radical acceptance - and given that we finally have confirmation that these are mindfiles and not actual humans, the reveal of E7 is still true: There is no exit. Nothing they can do will make them leave. But they know now, they experienced the proverbial bite of the apple and they are still trapped in paradise because the apple isnt real and neither is everything else.
If you "skip" E7 and just go directly into E8, Caine would feel more like a dictator and the characters would still want to escape.
I do agree however that Kinger (who is in his pillow fort for like 80% of things) just needing a bucket did feel lazy and not the cleanest way to transition between these stages. Jax was better setup because we get a lot of character development from him in e5 and e6, so its not surprising that the other characters are more forgiving. Especially because their entire world and ultimate goal for the last ~20 years has been taken away from them.
Caines ultimate fallout didnt feel like a betrayal to me, especially because of E7. Everything said about Caine there (that he couldnt leave, that he would like to talk about his hobbies, that he can be distracted by dinner etc.) are all *his* thoughts. Abel is Caine and therefore everything said gives us Insight about Caine: Needing to be loved, seen, listened to. At the end, he even plainly states that he made the adventure to please his humans, only to find them mad and devastated at him. If their ultimate goal is to leave, shouldnt an adventure about leaving make them happy?
Ever since Pomnis arrival (or probably even before) Caine has been glitching out and showed his own bugginess as a program. We know the Circus is entirely his creation from Kinger, since C&A didnt make games but AIs. So he made an entire world filled with fun and interest and personal adventures and nobody appreciates his work. He was made specifically to entertain and to make them "happy" and they hate him. Him crashing out seems pretty reasonable to me? Hes essentially just a toddler and this is his temper tantrum.
I do think the show suffers from being a "Tumblr-coded" show. I also dont want to cast too much judgement on it before E9 comes out, since a good and satisfying Finale can make a show "better" in retrospect. If you go through again and find clues that were leading to the Finale all along, its way more satisfying as a piece of media.
Though the pacing did throw me off at first since it seems to walk a strange line between "Monster/adventure of the week" + existential horror. Which can totally work!
And in retrospect, a lot of this was clear from the first episodes too: Caine outright states that its all AI and theres a lot of ambiguous dialogue that in hindsight is a massive arrow pointing to the mindfiles and such. Its not a bad thing people figured out the SOMA twist muuuuuch earlier than it was revealed: The groundwork was there. Kinger being a dev was known since E2, E3 specifically sets up his darkness thing, Gummygoo in E3 is a wonderful intro to radical acceptance and the AI theories.
Like I dont think the episodes are wasted? The writing is relatively tight, even. It just still lacks the finish line for me and I currently think its gonna be a really good finish line but I dont know yet?
Sorry for yapping lol. I hope this gave you anything!!!
Thank you so much for engaging and giving your opinion! I see what you mean, that caine is very much a toddler in his view of the world and if I think about crushouts in general they are very out of character moments in which you say things you don't normally would. I also agree with you that judging something before its end is premature, and I'm really curious to see where the show is headed, especially since I can't see it rn. I don't necessarily agree with you when it comes to the link between ep 7 and 8 but hearing your take was interesting. And yeah it's not like everything was a waste, and i did appreciate some individual character work, especially with jax and kingler, my main critique is mainly that it's lacking more. Thank you so much though this is exactly what I had hoped to achieve with this post, I wanna hear opinions that are different than mine.
